The Trump & Musk Cash "Cabaret"'
Elon Musk spent a quarter-billion dollars to elect Trump. Now this duo is cashing in on a new "Gilded Age," with AI and crypto replacing oil, steel & shipping as the engines of their wealth and power.
“Money makes the world go around, the world go around, the world go around.
Money makes the world go around; It makes the world go 'round …
“Money money money money. Money money money money. Money money money …”
The “Money Song” could become the new national anthem. Forget about that “bombs bursting in air” stuff, now we have “that clinking, clanking sound …”
On the same day Vice President JD Vance told the world the Trump administration would prioritize U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence, delivering a sharp critique of the European Union’s efforts to regulate the tech sector, Elon Musk made a $97.4 billion bid to buy the assets of the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, an artificial intelligence powerhouse.
Coincidence? Come on, folks, let’s not be naïve. Musk spent more than a quarter-billion dollars to put Donald Trump back in the White House, and now we’re seeing the payoff.
Artificial Intelligence is expected to be the defining force in the tech world moving forward, reshaping industries, economies and daily life. It’s already the driving force behind automation, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and even creativity, and it’s expected to power software development, robotics, biotech, finance and well, you name it and AI could change it.
The industry is expected to be worth between $1.3 trillion and $1.8 trillion in just five years, giving Musk the chance to change the “B” in billionaire, when people write about him, to the “T” in trillionaire if he can pull this off.
You think, perhaps, Musk — who has a considerably larger role in Trump’s government than the vice president — nudged Vance on what to say before Vance headed to the AI Summit in Paris and chided European leaders for wanting to better regulate the field? I wonder. How about you?
The Musk Attack on Agencies
Musk has also pledged to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which last year announced plans to regulate the finance and payment apps used by tech monopolies. Musk’s most recent attack on the bureau came just nine days after the social media site he owns, X (the former Twitter), announced it had struck a deal with Visa to process peer-to-peer payments.
Coincidence? Maybe, but what do you think?
By attacking agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) , and the ((National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),)) Musk seeks to avoid regulations that could slow down the growth of X, SpaceX and Tesla, the companies he owns.
SpaceX, for example, has had multiple safety violations and environmental concerns flagged by the FAA and Musk has clashed with the SEC over stock-related issues, such as the infamous “funding secured” tweet about taking Tesla private.
Musk has also reaped the benefit of resignations by Biden-era regulators that flipped control of major regulatory agencies, leaving more sympathetic MAGA appointees overseeing investigations, enforcement matters or lawsuits pending against Musk companies. His involvement in the government over the past few weeks has upset the progress of many of those pending probes, according to Eric Lipton and Kirsten Grind, writing in The New York Times on Tuesday.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an independent watchdog agency for workers’ rights, has 24 investigations into Musk’s companies, according to Lipton and Grind’s review. Since January, however, Trump has fired three key officials at that agency, including a board member, effectively stalling the board’s ability to rule on cases.
Additionally, both SpaceX and Tesla rely heavily on federal contracts and subsidies. If Musk weakens agencies overseeing these contracts, he may face less scrutiny about how he spends taxpayer money. And yesterday, Trump handed this unelected shadow president even more power, ruling that Musk’s representatives hiring approval for pretty much every federal agency.
You think Musk is involved at this level because he’s such a good citizen? Musk is the world’s richest man, worth a reported $397.4 billion. Republicans defend him by saying he’s so rich he doesn’t have to care about such things. But narcissists — like Trump and Musk — feel they deserve special treatment and they expect to be recognized as superior beings.
Having to compete for projects, meet standards and then face regulatory challenges doesn’t fit the profile. And because those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a defined psychological condition, lack empathy and compassion, they don’t care how their actions may affect others.
Musk’s first payoff came in December, when Trump sided with him, rather than long-time supporter Steve Bannon, on H-1B visas for immigrants, a program that the tech industry and Musk swear by and hard-line anti-immigration folks want to end, opening a rift in MAGAland. H-1B visas are short-term visas given to foreign workers hired for U.S. jobs that require “highly specialized knowledge.”
The tech industry uses the visas to draw in workers trained as software and hardware engineers, data scientists, system analysts and a wide range of other technical positions that will work for relatively low pay.
Now Musk has been handed the keys to the kingdom, allowed to rummage through government agencies like a wrecking ball in a museum, ending this agency, firing these staffers, and gutting oversight with a billionaire’s grin.
The $TRUMP Meme Coin
Okay, now let’s take a look at our new president. His media company, TMTG, saw its stock price soar by approximately 50% in premarket trading following his election victory, increasing his 57% stake's value from $3.9 billion to an estimated $5.8 billion. And he also didn’t have to go to jail.
Meanwhile, on Jan. 17 — three days before his inauguration — Trump introduced a cryptocurrency meme coin named $TRUMP through his company CIC Digital LLC, owning 80% of the coin's supply. The coin's market valuation rapidly exceeded $5 billion, significantly enhancing his personal wealth.
In the weeks leading up to his inauguration, Trump named crypto advocate Paul Atkins as his pick for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and said he was giving former PayPal executive David Sacks the new role of artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto czar.
Cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency, designed to be used over the internet, created through a decentralized network and not backed by any government or bank. Bitcoin, the best known cryptocurrency, was created in 2009.
While the form has gained greater popularity in the last decade, it is still not viewed as a safe investment by most Americans. An executive order signed by Joe Biden prohibited federal agencies from taking any action to establish, issue, or promote Central Bank Digital Currencies within the U.S. or abroad, except where required by law.
Trump, not surprisingly, countermanded that order with one of his own.
Why did Trump’s meme coin do so well? His MAGA cultists certainly would want one, even if they lost money on it, adding it to the branded Trump bible they bought and the “No to the Hoe” t-shirt they picked up at a Trump rally. But you also have to wonder who kicked in money — perhaps even those attached to foreign governments — simply to catch Trump’s attention as president?
Last, but certainly not least, Trump is now calling the Gaza Strip, “a real estate development for the future.” Trump has said he wants to own Gaza, ripping it away from the Palestinians who live there, and remake it into a “Riviera”-style area for rich folks. In doing so, he revived an idea previously touted by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in an interview at Harvard University in February 2024. He said Gaza's waterfront property could be "very valuable.”
It's a reminder that for Trump and his family, the Middle East is as much a business interest as anything else. I wonder if the Trump sons and Kushner are already planning a resort there as Trump himself gets increasingly committed to the idea?
The overall region has been a growing focus for The Trump Organization, the real estate and hospitality conglomerate run by Trump's sons Eric and Donald Junior.
In the last few years, the Trump Organization has struck several agreements with Saudi Arabian real estate company Dar Global, the international arm of Saudi Arabia's Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Development Company. A luxury Trump-branded hotel and golf resort in Oman is in development, while plans have been announced for Trump Tower projects in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In his inauguration speech, Trump promised a “golden age” for America. But, really, what we’re seeing being established is the birth of a new “gilded age,” much like in the late 19th century when immense wealth accumulation by a few powerful individuals were combined with significant political corruption and a facade of prosperity for the rest of the country.
After hearing Trump invoke plans during his inauguration address to send US astronauts to Mars, the SpaceX CEO pumped his fist wildly in the air. Take a guess on how many billions that may provide his company from your tax dollars.
When Trump was asked about his confidence in Musk during an interview with Fox News Channel's Bret Baier that aired on Super Bowl Sunday, he seemed surprised that anyone would even wonder about such a thing. "Trust Elon?" Trump responded. "Oh, he's not gaining anything. In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it. He's so into it."
Right.
The “Gilded Age” is being reborn in Washington, and the rest of us will likely suffer in one way or another. If you didn’t read my column yesterday on what the future may hold for anyone who doesn’t have a billion dollars laying around, take a read by clicking here.
There’s a scary future ahead, folks. What do you think?